


Pound

by ginnyvos



Category: Critical Ditto (Podcast), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode 36, Gen, Sky Attack #6, dark timeline, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28689345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginnyvos/pseuds/ginnyvos
Summary: Wimpy hadn’t been sure what to choose, back on the deck of that ship. Who to choose. It could’ve gone both ways. In that moment, his future was as unsure as the roll of a dice.What if the dice had fallen differently? What if Wimpy had decided to pursue his past dreams and his regrets rather than loyalty and friendship and faith in himself, in Brandi and in their future?This fic is an AU based on the ending of episode 36, Sky Attack #6. If you haven’t listened to that, chances are it won’t make much sense. If you want to read anyway, I give a small summary in the notes.Sometimes you just need to write a fix-it fix for something that never actually happened okay?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Pound

**Author's Note:**

> Wimpy got a choice, in Sky Attack 36. A choice between staying with Brandi or joining Gary and fulfilling his dream of being on the champion’s team. Tom left it up to a roll of the dice, and it was terrifying.
> 
> Luckily the dice rolled in our favour, but I couldn’t help but imagine what’d happen if things had gone differently. Tom admitted in the CritDit discord that he’d given it a lot of thought, and that he thought Brandi would start leaning on Bunnelby more as a replacement for Wimpy, at least for a while.
> 
> The first version of this was written by frantically yelling over this fact at Tom and Jeremby on the CritDit discord while they egged me on. On my phone. While exhausted and ill.
> 
> I said I wasn’t going to write a proper fanfic.
> 
> I was wrong.
> 
> Thanks to Tom, Jeremby and Smam for encouraging this madness. That ending is all Tom, I can lay no claim to that (does that make it canon for this non-canon alternate timeline?). And of course thanks to the lovely Britt for editing this! All mistakes that remain are mine. Thank you so much everyone!

“Aaaaaand it’s a knock out! It’s unbelievable folks! The champion’s Tyrantrum was just defeated by the challenger’s bunnelby! The crowd is going wild here in the Pokémon League Stadium! What a match! Unbelievable! No one could’ve predicted this! Both the champion Gary Smoke and the challenger Brandi Flash are now on their sixth and final pokémon! That Bunnelby isn’t looking great, but if it can beat a Tyrantrum, who knows?”

The announcer pauses for a second.

“We’re all waiting with baited breath to see what the champion will send out next. He has taken a pokéball off his belt… He is grinning! We know this grin! It’s going to be good people, I just know it! The champion is about to throw out his last pokémon! There we go! It’s… yes! It has to be! His trusted, his mighty, his best pokémon, it’s Luca-“

“Your turn Wimpy, show her what the pokémon of a  _ real _ champion can do…”

“No! It’s a Lopunny! I don’t know about you folks, but I certainly didn’t see that one coming! Even the challenger seems to be in shock! Dear viewers, Gary Smoke, the Pokémon champion, is using a Lopunny as his final pokémon to face the challenger Brandi’s Bunnelby! This is an incredibly tense and exciting match, and there’s a lot on the line here! There’s the title of Pokémon champion and a whooooole lot of money! And it comes down to these two bunny Pokémon! Something like this has never been seen before!”

The crowd cheers and it’s nearly loud enough to drown out Brandi’s voice as she yells out: “Gary, you mukker!” Almost.

Gary gives her a shinx-eating grin.

“The two Pokémon are circling each other. Both seem to be readying an attack, even without their trainers giving the command. These two seem to be ultimately matched! Look at that drive! That aggression! That passion! This is going to be a match that we’ll remember for a long, long time ladies and gents! They’re ready to spring and… yes! There we go!”

~*~

Wimpy circles the Bunnelby; both are unwilling to look away from the other. Wimpy knows very well who he’s facing, who this Bunnelby’s trainer is. He’d recognised her gasp the moment he’d left his pokéball, but when he heard her yell at Gary he knew for sure.

Brandi.

His old trainer. The one who’d taken him when Gary had declared him a wimp and was ready to toss him aside. The one who’d defended him, fought for him, fought  _ with _ him. The one who’d stood by him and told anyone that tried to tell her that a mere Bunneary could never be great that they could muk off.

He’s so distracted by her very presence that it takes him a moment to realise that Brandi’s shout of “Take down!” isn’t meant for him. A moment is far too long in a battle like this, especially with a quick pokémon like Bunnelby.

Wimpy sees them coming at the last second, but it’s far too late. It takes everything he has not to cry out when the Bunnelby rushes into him at a mad dash. It hurts. It hurts so bad, but he’s still standing. He can fight. He will fight. Has to. He has to prove himself. Has to prove to Gary that he’s worthy of being on the champion’s team. Has to prove to this Bunnelby that there is  _ no way _ that they’re worthy of taking his place on Brandi’s team. Most of all, he has to prove to Brandi that… that… that it was worth it. That he didn’t give up on her for no reason. That he is everything she hoped he’d be and  _ more _ .

He struggles to his feet. It hurts. Everything hurts. But he has to keep going.

He remembers other times it was like this. Times he faced impossible odds and survived. He remembers facing the hydreigon. Remembers facing the Porygon. The Gyarados. The train. Remembers how always,  _ always _ , Brandi stood behind him. Believed in him even when the odds were impossible. How she never failed to give him the strength to keep going.

And here he is, facing her.

Gary shouts something, but Wimpy misses it, too lost in memories to pay attention like he should.

He stares at Brandi instead, sees how she pumps her fist and grins that fierce grin of hers. Sees her shout something.

It happens like everything is in slow motion. Brandi shouts the command. Bunnelby braces themselves, their muscles tensing up.

Wimpy knows what he should do. Knows that, if he jumps aside, Bunnelby will run right past him. Hurt themselves. Maybe even enough to be defeated. They look like they’re hanging on by a thread, badly hurt by their last battle.

Wimpy could jump aside. He can see it. Bunnelby’s attack is sloppy. 

But this is it. The battle for the championship. The thing Brandi has worked so hard for. The thing she wants more than anything. Her chance to prove herself to Gary and to the world. Her chance to win the money and fix Surfloat town.

Wimpy looks past Bunnelby as they rush at him, determined to take him down even if Bunnelby goes down with him. Wimpy meets Brandi’s eyes.

He doesn’t step aside.

The pain is immediate and overwhelming. He can’t breathe. He’s in so much pain. But he can’t look away from Brandi’s face. It’s hard to focus, but somehow the mix of dawning horror and triumph on her face is clear as day when everything around her goes misty.

He could go on. He’s got one hit left in him, he thinks. It might be enough to take out that darned Bunnelby. His replacement.

He sees the moment Brandi realises just how close to winning she is.

He makes a decision.

He lets himself crumble to the ground and closes his eyes.

The crowd goes wild.

~*~

“Wimpy!” Brandi calls out, and she runs for the lopunny. She completely ignores Bunnelby where they stand over Wimpy, swaying and so close to passing out, keeping to their feet by sheer force of will. For a moment they seem to think she’s coming for them, but then they realise that she’s running for their adversary, and sags.

Wimpy however, perks up a little as he hears her coming. She… she still cares. Despite everything, despite him leaving her, she still cares. It fills him with happiness in a way that he hasn’t felt in a long, long time. Not since- since- well, not since he managed to kick a rampaging Gyarados and make it turn around and leave.

“Look at you, you’re useless!” Gary sneers. “Can’t even beat a pathetic little Bunnelby! I was right after all, when I called you Wimpy! You’re a total wimp!”

The words feel like ice. Like a stone in his throat that’s making it impossible to breathe. Wimpy looks between Brandi and Gary. He’s made a mistake. He knows that now. There can’t be any doubt. He’s made a terrible mistake that night all those months ago and it can never be fixed. He’s stuck with Gary, he knows that much with deep certainty. Why in the world would Brandi take him back now?

“Anyway, enough of this. Wimpy, return!” Gary has stepped closer and holds out the ball, fury written clearly all over his face.

Wimpy doesn’t even think about it. He just acts. He goes in for a pound. Knocks the pokéball right out of Gary’s hand, and runs off. Out of the stadium, through the city and into the forest, wanting nothing more than to hide. Hide from Gary, hide from Brandi and more than anything, hide from himself and the things he’s feeling.

~*~

Brandi hesitates for a moment, looking at the crowd which is going wild over her win. She looks at the stage where, in only a couple of minutes, she’ll finally get the acknowledgement she’s been fighting for all these months. Years, really. The acknowledgement that she’s good. The best. The champion. She looks at Gary, annoyed but approaching her to begrudgingly congratulate her on her win anyway. She’s dreamed about this moment for so, so long. She’ll finally be able to return home. Fix things. She looks at Kenny and Theo, going absolutely wild in the crowd.

This is the moment she’s been waiting for. Her moment in the spotlight. Finally.

She turns her back on all of it and takes off after Wimpy, going to find her friend, her companion, the one that started it all, because he might've left her to chase his dream, but she’s not about to let him leave when he looks like that.

~*~

Wimpy finds himself a spot in the forest, curled up in some bushes. Hiding used to be easier, back before he evolved. He feels tears welling up in his eyes. Fights to hold them back. He doesn’t want to cry. He’s already enough of a wimp. Crying would just add insult to injury, wouldn’t it? How could he have been so  _ stupid _ ? 

He’s so lost in his regrets that he doesn’t hear Brandi running, or her shouting his name. He doesn’t even hear her screaming in frustration.

Wimpy cries.

~*~

“Wimpy! Wimpy! Where are you? Wimpy!”

Brandi runs through the forest, frantically looking around. She has to find him. Wimpy was injured by the end of that fight.  _ Really _ injured. And it was her fault. She’d realised at the last moment that he was holding back. That he wasn’t fighting the way she  _ knows _ he can. She should’ve called Bunnelby off. Should’ve stopped it right there…

But she hadn’t and now Wimpy was in this mukking forest, by himself, injured.

What if some wild pokémon attacked him?

“Wimpy, you mothermukker! Where are you? Don’t mukking hide from me! Shinx! Come out!”

He had to be here somewhere! She’d seen that familiar tail disappear between the trees. Well, sort of familiar. He wasn’t a Bunneary any longer. Not at all. She’d missed so much. Even his evolution… She wondered how much had changed.

“Wimpy, please! Please come out! It’s not safe! Please! Wimpy! Don’t you mukking hide from me!”

She ran around the forest, yelling as loudly as she could, but there was no response. No familiar voice calling back to her. Only the squawking of a group of Spearow and Fearow that had obviously been disturbed. She ignored them and went on.

Then, she sees it. Movement. Two plumes behind some bushes. For a second she thinks it can’t be Wimpy, because Wimpy’s ears don’t look like that at all, but then she realises that he doesn’t look like that. Not anymore.

She lets out a yell and storms into the pushes, not sure if she’s angry or concerned when Wimpy doesn’t even acknowledge that. Probably angry.

Wimpy’s eyes widen when he sees her. He’s obviously been crying.

She takes a deep breath and kneels down in front of him, searching for something to say. Anything really. All she can come up with is “Wimpy.” and then “Hey.” It’s not often that Brandi finds herself speechless. She opens her arms instead.

There is a moment of stillness between the two of them. Neither of them moves. Neither of them seems to breathe. She can feel the war going on behind Wimpy's eyes.

Movement comes rushing back in in the form of Wimpy, rushing into her arms. His form feels so different from the last time she’d held him. He is different. So is she, probably.

But it doesn’t matter, not really. In their essence they haven’t changed, she’s sure of that. They’re still two scrappy underdogs, ready to fight and show the world how  _ wrong _ they are for judging them based on first impressions. They might get beaten down, might get put aside, but it never lasts. Because Wimpy and her? They fight. They always fight.

She doesn’t know how long they sit there. Doesn’t quite remember what they say to each other in those quiet moments. She’s pretty sure she yelled at him one point, for being stupid and self-sacrificing. Pretty sure he kicked her to make her stop. Very sure he held back. She’s seen him take down a train with that hit after all.

It doesn’t matter. What matters is that, when they finally separate, she is sure. Sure that despite everything that has happened, despite their time apart, they are still the same. Still a team. Nothing has changed there.

Now she just has to get him back to Gary, to the champion’s team, where he belongs.

~*~

The two of them come back, hand in hand, hours later. Brandi looks wild, leaves in her hair and clothing askew. Wimpy looks exhausted, fur on his cheeks still slightly damp.

The audience is gone. The staff is gone. Even Theo and Kenny are gone. Only Gary is still there, sitting on the edge of the stage, head in his hands, looking dejected.

He perks up when he hears them enter, tries to straighten his clothing, school his expression. "Brandi," he says, taking her in, "I see you've found my pokémon..."

Brandi glares at him, because she will never not glare at Gary given the opportunity.

"Thanks baby, I'll be returning him to his pokéball now!" He gives her a sleazy grin before turning towards Wimpy. "You, get back in. We'll be having words, later! I obviously made a a mistake, taking you on! I-"

But before he can finish his sentence, Wimpy has let go of Brandi's hand and meets her eye for a second. He gives her a determined look and a "Bun!" and strides up to Gary. He grabs his pokéball from Gary's hand and after a moment of hesitation walks up to Brandi and holds out his open hand expectantly.

Brandi gives him a nonplussed look. "I don't know what you want Wimpy! That's Gary's pokéball now, we traded! I can't just take that, I'm not a thief!"

"Bun, bun bun!" Wimpy says, and taps on one of Brandi's pokéballs impatiently. The one that has Bunnelby in it. The very Bunnelby that Brandi had used in the battle against him.

"You want... what? A trade? For Bunnelby? Is that what you're saying?"

"Bun! Bunbunbun!" Wimpy says, gesturing irritably at the ball that has Bunnelby in it, and then at Gary, who definitely looks like he's scheming something.

"You’ve got to be kidding!” Brandi bursts out, "First you want to be with him and now you want me to take you back, but you want me to give away another pokémon for you? Really?"

For a moment it seems like Wimpy will protest, answer Brandi's anger with anger, but then the moment passes. He sags, his ears hanging and his fur laying flat. He lets out a last, soft "Bun," and then turns around, slowly walking back to Gary, his pokéball falling to the ground from a limp paw. Sadness and defeat are etched in his every movement as he makes his way back to his trainer, to the champion, to Gary, looking utterly smug, before-

"Oy! Not so fast! Hey Gary, catch!"

A pokéball flies past Wimpy, and Gary catches it out of instinct, just before it can hit him in the face.

"What is-" He lets out the pokémon. "A Bunnelby? Are you kidding me? Do you really think I'd agree to that? Have you lost your mind Brandi?"

A look of pain passes over Brandi's face, but then she looks at Wimpy, who has stopped and turned to stare at her as well, something like hope in his face. She finds her resolve. "Oh you will," she says, sounding calmer and more confident than Gary had ever heard her be before. "You see Gary, they never called the match before I ran out, but you and I both know I won! It's not too late though. I can still forfeit. And I will... if you accept this trade! Just think Gary, you can keep that fancy title of yours! Pokémon champion! It only costs you one thing. One pokémon. A wimpy, wimpy pokémon. You said so yourself! And this is the pokémon that beat him! Not a bad deal right?"

Gary stares at her and then a grin passes over his face. "That's how it is huh? Well baby, I'd say we have a deal. I accept this trade!"

"Good!" Brandi says, and she grins fiercely as she scoops up Wimpy's pokéball from the ground. “Wimpy, come back! It's time to go home!"

Wimpy lets out a happy noise and joy is clearly visible on his face as he accepts the red beam and returns to his pokéball.

Brandi takes a deep breath and for a moment she stands there cradling the familiar pokéball in her hands. "I've missed you Wimpy," she says, softly, before turning her back and yelling: "I forefeit the match!" for anyone to hear.

~*~

As she walks away, she lets out a sigh. "Now how am I supposed to get the money to rebuild Surfloat, huh?" she quietly asks the pokéball in her hand. Then, with a shrug, she starts making her way down the road, in search of her friends.

A shadow falls over her just as she spots them in the distance.

“Brandi, watch out!” Kenny calls out, “Theo, he’s spotted her, do something!”

“Why don’t  _ you _ do something for a change, huh? She’s your friend…”

Brandi looks up to see the dark shape of a Hydreigon blocking out the afternoon sun. A fierce grin comes over her face. "Wimpy, I choose you!" she yells out.

Wimpy comes out of his pokéball already in motion, fierce grin perfectly matching that of his trainer. Wimpy and Brandi look at each other, nod, and she doesn’t even have to say anything. 

Wimpy goes in for a pound.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed this fic that shouldn't have happened in the first place!
> 
> If you've come this far and don't know the pocast, I recommend you try it out! It's a lot of goodm good goofs, but then there's moments like these where you're at the tip of your chair or legit want to cry!
> 
> The discord community is just a great, positive place and the creators are awesome people.
> 
> If you liked it, let me know! Comments and kudos make my world go round (and apparently force fanfic into being).


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